Stigma and what's wrong

1. Mental Health
What’s the issue, what are we doing and what have we learned
Lindsay Rodgers

2. Breakdown
• What is mental health & illness
• The difference with mental health
and mental illness
• What are we doing to prevent it
• What we have learned in 5 steps
• The Stigma
• The conflict theory with mental
illness

3. The Impact
• What is mental health? a person’s condition with regard to their psychological
and emotional well-being.
• What is mental illness? Mental illness refers to a wide range of mental
health conditions —disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior.
Examples of mental illness include depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia,
eating disorders and addictive behaviors.
Mayo Foundation, 1998-2016

4. The Differences
Mental Health
• State of well-being
• Ability to cope with normal stresses
• Can work productively and efficiently
• Able to make contributions to her or his life or community
Workplace Mental Health Promotion, 2016

5. The Differences
Mental Illness
• Medically diagnosed
• The ability to impair ones judgement
• Its compared to physical disease which relates to the invisible disease
• Result from biological, developmental or psychosocial factors
Workplace Mental Health Promotion, 2016

6. Mental Illness
What you don’t see
• Mental illness affects all Canadians at
some point through out a life time
• 20% of Canadians will personally be
affected
• It affects all ages, educational, income
levels and cultures
• Approximately 8% of adults will
experience major depression at some
time in their lives
• About 1% will experience bipolar
disorder
Canadian Mental Health
Association 2015

7. More stats….
How common is it?
• Schizophrenia affects 1% of the Canadian
Population
• Anxiety disorders affect 5% of the household
population, causing mild to severe impairment
• Suicide accounts for 24%
of all deaths among 15-24
year olds
• 16% among 25-44 year olds
Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in both men and women from adolescence to middle
age.
The mortality rate due to suicide among men is four time the rate among women
Canadian Mental Health
Association 2015

8. What
causes
it?
genetic, biological, personality,
situational and environmental
factors
Financial
No satisfaction
with stress
towards financial
situation
Physical
Not being able
to recognize the
need for
physical activity,
diet, sleep, and
nutrtionSocial
No sense of
connecting or
not having a
support system.
Intellectual
Loosing interest
in finding ways
to become
creative
Emotional
Not being able to
cope with life or
create good
relationships

9. The Stigma..
What is it
really?
A negative
stereotype
Judgement
ShameNot Accepted
You don’t
even
have a
problem
Just
shake it
off
It’s all in your
head
Stop being
such a
psycho

10. Stigma

11. 5 Ways to Help
Reduce the
Stigma
Language Matters
Pay attention to what you say and the words you use, some can be
hurtful
Explain to friends and colleagues who use words like “nut” or
“psycho” they may hurt someone you know
Educate Yourself
Learn the facts and myths about mental illness. Be
knowledgeable and help fight stigma with facts
Understand early warning signs un yourself and
others
Know where to seek help
Bell Canada, 2016

12. Reducing Stigma Be Kind
Bell Canada, 2016
Small acts of kindness speaks volume
Don’t stand by someone if they are being bulled or labelled
Treat a person who has mental illness with the kindness
they deserve or with out treating them any different
Listen and Ask
Sometime all you can do is just listen
Ask questions on how you can help

13. Reduce Stigma Talk About It
Bell Canada, 2016
Start a conversation, not a debate
Break the silence
Talk about how normal it is, how it touches us all in some
way
Support mental health and involve yourself in the
community

14. The Impact
The conflict theory
with stigma and
mental illness
Conflict Theory (Main)
• Refers to the labelling theory against people with
mental health issues, also knows as stigma
• Considered not normal
Functionalists (Secondary)
• People and social media believe that by
recognizing mental illness, society uphold values
about conforming behavior
Symbolic Interactionists (Third)
• See mentally ill people not as sick but more or less
as victims of societal reactions of their behavior
(Crossman, 2014).

15. Stop the Stigma!
https://m.facebook.com/st
ory.php?story_fbid=118895
9297811593&id=354522044
588660&_rdr
You wouldn’t treat
someone like this if they
had cancer, so why would
you if they had a mental
illness?

16. References
• Canadian Mental Health Association: Fast Facts about Mental Illness (Canadian Mental Health
Association, 2016). Retrieved February 22, 2016, from http://www.cmha.ca/media/fast-facts-
about-mental-illness/#.VsowXSgrLIU
• Canadian Mental Health Association: Stigma and Discrimination (Canadian Mental Health
Association, 2016). Retrieved February 22, 2016, from https://ontario.cmha.ca/mental-
health/mental-health-conditions/stigma-and-discrimination/
• Bell Let’s Talk: 5 simple ways to help end the stigma around mental illness (Bell Canada, 2016).
Retrieved February 22, 2016, from http://letstalk.bell.ca/en/end-the-stigma/
• Mayo Clinic: Mental Illness Definition (Mayo Foundation 1998-2016). Retrieved February 22,
2016, from, http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mental-
illness/basics/definition/con-20033813
• About Education: Deviance and Mental Illness (Crossman, 2014). Retrieved February 22, 2016,
from http://sociology.about.com/od/Deviance/a/Deviance-And-Mental-Illness.htm
• Workplace Mental Health: A How-To Guide (Workplace Mental Health Promotion, 2016).
Retrieved February 22, 2016, from http://wmhp.cmhaontario.ca/workplace-mental-health-core-
concepts-issues/what-is-mental-health-and-mental-illness
• Youtube: Mental Illness: What you see/ What you don’t see (Neinstein & Associates, 2012,
December 14). Retrieved February 22, 2016, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54sDdNa9vek
• Youtube: Mental Health (Hasudugan., A. 2013, October 9). Retrieved February 22, 2016, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQYNOXXjrxQ
• Youtube: What is Stigma? (BringChange2Mind, 2014, August 19). Retrieved February 22, 2016,
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vkUMXaJDM4